Castitas
Castitas (貞操, lit., Chastity) is a renowned medic based within Konohagakure and leader of Team Iroka. Raised by an adoptive family following his life as an orphan, he was taught the intricacies of medicine and physical anatomy. His medical knowledge has proven beneficial to the village and he hopes to one day provide a breakthrough in medical science by revealing his findings. After years passed from the previous Chunin Exams, Castitas's medical skills earned the eyes of the Hokage, who promoted him to the head of the medical division. Background Castitas was orphaned just a few days after he was born in a small village just outside of Kumogakure, after an illness of unknown origin took the lives of his parents. Shortly before their deaths, they had him sent to Konohagakure for him to live a better life. From there, he was raised by two of Konohagakure's medics. After hearing the news of the illness that took the lives of Castitas's parents, the two medics decided they were going to teach him the ways of medicine, to allow him to identify diseases and help treat them. For years, his adoptive parents taught him more and more advanced forms of medicine as he got old enough to understand each of the fields. From there, he was trained how to use it in combat during his time in the ninja academy, using his knowledge of medicine and anatomy to push through to graduation. By the time he was eighteen, he was a celebrated Chunin and had tremendous knowledge in medicine and taijutsu, having rarely had to utilize ninjutsu save for the basic techniques he learned in the academy along with his medical ninjutsu. He has looked after a young Genin who goes by the name of Geiha Arashi for quite some time, looking after her during the rare opportunities she was let out of prison for her free time. Castitas developed a brother/sister bond with Geiha, protecting her from the people who felt she was a monster. When she was kidnapped and taken to the Devil's Playground, Castitas knew something was up when Geiha wasn't using her free time to come for her checkup. Days of worrying turned to weeks, which turned to months, and then, to years. For those four years, Castitas kept looking for her, knowing that the person in that cell wasn't Geiha. He followed every single lead he could, but to no avail. It wasn't until after he approached the fake Geiha and made her reveal her true self by striking one of her tenketsu that he finally got the lead he was looking for. He spent an hour interrogating the woman, who he learned worked for . He learned they had been observing Geiha for years, trying to steal her and her power. Castitas took this news to the Hokage, who realized something was wrong with how she had been behaving. Learning that the Geiha in that cell was a doppelganger, the Hokage assumed the only place Orochimaru could have taken her was the Devil's Playground, a sort of hellish proving ground meant to test those with strong powers. When he requested that he infiltrate the arena, the Hokage told him it was impossible without being captured and brought forth to it, and he was told they only take young ninja, mostly of Genin level. Castitas was denied the chance of a mission, but this didn't stop him from telling Okami and Shiro about the news. Secretly giving them the opportunity to rescue their childhood friend, he saw them embark towards the Devil's Playground, only being able to hope they'd be successful in their mission. His hopes were answered a few weeks later when Shiro and Okami returned with Geiha, who he was both happy and saddened to see. He could see just how broken she was, how much pain she was in. He requested the Hokage to put her under his care so he can help her recover, which he agreed on. He was somewhat satisfied to learn that the bravery of his students earned them an invitation to the Chunin Exams, but he knew he had a long road ahead with helping Geiha recover from her traumatic event. Castitas was proud of the team he was assigned to, seeing just how much they've grown, how much they've prospered. Ten years have passed since the Chunin Exams were complete and he has seen his team grow into prosperous Shinobi and legendary writers, something that has made him proud to have been chosen to lead such a team. Nowadays, he continues his medical studies while continuing to perfect his skills in combat. Appearance Having been raised by a family focused on medicine, Castitas has eaten fairly healthy. His healthy eating habits has granted him a fit, toned out physique that is easily discernible among his peers. Even at a young age, he was seen as more fit in comparison to his fellow academy students. He is fairly tall and dark skinned, both attributes he inherited from his original parents. His hair is rather unkempt and adorned in hues of white, with a large tuft of hair pointing rightwards. Many other parts of his hair are equally unkempt and it flows unpredictably. His eyes are sharp, glowing with a hue of gold. Below the neck, he wears a simple outfit consisting of a tan colored, medium fitting shirt, nothing tight or loose, with a pair of relaxed fit pants and a pair of boots. Oftentimes he wears a Konohagakure flak jacket over his shirt to give him some protection. Personality Castitas bears a somewhat stern, but just attitude towards life and other things in general. He always speaks in rhetorics, something he inherited from his adoptive father's speech mannerisms. As such, it's never known whether or not he's speaking rhetorically unless he says so, though his teammates had picked up on his changes in voice tone when he's speaking rhetoric or not. When in combat, Castitas keeps an almost intimidatingly calm approach to his opponent, even looking as if he was letting his guard down. All of this serves as a way to make his opponent uneasy and cause them to make rash decisions that he quickly takes advantage of. He never underestimates his opponents, but at the same time, he does not overestimate them. He's completely aware of his opponent's capabilities by what he sees in them and approaches all opponents equally. For him, destiny is not a beaten path, but the choice of going on a path no one else dared dream of walking down. It's this determination in life that allows him to get through just about any stressful situation that makes its way into his life with a calm and just manner. His willingness to protect those he trusts gives him the strength to fight past the darkness that clouds his path. Perhaps inherited from his mother is the urge to continue protecting those who need help, to heal them whenever possible, and never leave behind the wounded if there's still something left to do. He is extremely protective of his students, who he sees as his extended family. If he knows there's something out of their hands, he goes out of his way to protect them, no matter what he may have been doing. Castitas has been compared to a guardian angel by them. Being a calm and kind hearted man, Castitas rarely ever has to rely on anger. But he is a passionate man, and will do anything to ensure the safety of those around him, even it if means breaking his most sacred oath, "First do no harm." If he feels any particular person deserves his unshakable anger, he lets them now beforehand. Very few people have ever managed to anger him, and they had to go to great lengths, performing unforgivable deeds to ever manage to move him. Needless to say, those that survived his fury still look over their shoulder to this day. Abilities Trained in the thorough intricacies of medicine and taijutsu, Castitas has combined the two into a non-lethal, but extremely debilitating, martial art. He chooses not to cause permanent injuries to his opponents, so he avoids attacks that could cause any damage that can't be otherwise reversed. This is what has made him an intimidating opponent against those he faced, because he chooses to break his opponents, without breaking their body. His usage of the Eight Gates, his taijutsu, heightened combat response and perfect knowledge of human anatomy make him a dangerous opponent, even to those who try to keep their distance from him. Taijutsu Taijutsu is the biggest and single weapon in Castitas's offensive arsenal. Having combined his perfect knowledge of the human body's anatomy with his taijutsu, Castitas can break his opponent thoroughly, but not a single bone in their body will be broken. Instead, he goes for less drastic measures. Using his knowledge of pressure point location, Castitas can leave his opponent numbed down with but a single strike in any part of the body's brain-to-limb nerves, which are nerves that lead from the brain, to the limb. This allows him to incapacitate an opponent with little to no effort on his part. When more drastic measures are required, Castitas takes on a somewhat more offensive approach. Once again using his knowledge of human anatomy, Castitas knows how much pressure to put on a limb to dislocate it out of its socket without breaking it. He has done this to more than a third of all of the opponents he has faced, and knows how to dislocate any limb like the back of his hand. Whether it be a small joint like the joints in the fingers, to larger joints like the arm's connection to the shoulder, Castitas knows how to dislocate it and how much pressure that's required to do so. His modus operandi is breaking his opponent, without breaking their body. Calm movements allow him to move past his opponent's defenses without even getting close to their attacks, just swerving by them and taking advantage of the short window of time where they're open to counterattack to deliver his own array of attacks that they will not see coming. Oftentimes, Castitas doesn't need to fight back at all. More often than not, Castitas uses the most vital pressure points in an opponent's body to stop them with little damage done. By grabbing a punch, Castitas can use his free hand to clinch the three vital pressure points in the arm; The armpit, the upper portion of the elbow, and the wrist. All of these force his opponent to the ground, allowing him to tie them down if need be. He can also grab onto the nerve behind the neck, once again forcing them on the ground. Training in Hapkido has taught him how to absorb most damage done to his body. By exhaling the air from his lungs, Castitas can absorb virtually any punch done to his abdomen with no damage done to his part. This helps stimulate the abdominal internal oblique muscle that rest behind the spine, creating a biological cushion that absorbs the punch. All in all, Castitas knows how to hurt his opponent in the most efficient and non-lethal ways possible while making damage done to him close to impossible. Medical Ninjutsu Though Castitas has no offensive capabilities in ninjutsu, he possesses a sharp knowledge in medical ninjutsu. Having been taught every single field there is in medical ninjutsu, Castitas knows what technique to use for any kind of injury and how long it needs to be applied. This has given him a strong support role, healing his teammates' injuries, no matter how severe they were. There is only one thing in this supporting arsenal that he has used offensively, and that is the chakra scalpel. His last resort to keep an opponent from fighting back, Castitas uses his chakra scalpel to deliver surface cuts that don't dig deep, but do allow air to permeate into the wound, causing it to hurt even worse. He never cuts too deep and has never had to. Every usage of his chakra scalpel has been enough to open up his opponent, even without deep lacerations. Castitas has learned how to activate his chakra scalpel at the last second just before impact, which throws his opponents off expecting a punch. This allows him to trick his opponents and deliver a wide aray of cuts that they don't expect from him. Eight Gates Castitas has thoroughly studied the Eight Gates technique inside and out, reading everything he could in medical and autopsy records of those who used it. From what he learned, he knows how dangerous the Eight Gates can be to those who use it haphazardly. As such, Castitas has learned how to utilize the first gate proficiently, which is more than enough to give him a physical boost without causing any lasting damage to his body, though he does experience temporary bodily damage due to his heightened combat responses competing with the Eight Gates to deliver energy to his body. Castitas has used the Eight Gates as an example in many of his medical teachings, citing it as perhaps the body's greatest, but also its most dangerous, fight-or-flight instinct. Adrenaline and chakra combine into a powerhouse of energy that breaks free the body's physical inhibitors, allowing the user to perform feats beyond normal human capabilities. But this also prevents the body from restoring itself to normal levels following physical stress. Therefore, it wears down the body before eventually tearing it apart as the influx of friction caused by the tremendous increase in speed causes the muscle fibers to stretch and tear apart. Athleticism Thanks to Castitas's fit, physical frame, he is capable of a large array of athletic potential. Primary skill being his speed, Castitas can run at incredible speeds and distances without any sign of slowing down. Thanks to this, he can outrun most opponents if he has to and can wear them down enough to fight them off. His speed seems to improve day by day as his running speed becomes greater and greater. This has also lent him extraordinary swimming capabilities, allowing him to swim better than most elite level swimmers and can swim for vast distances, even in strong tides, one of his preferences to train his physique. His strong core allows him to endure hot and cold temperatures even at extremes, having withstood the sweltering heat of Sunagakure's deserts in the middle of its dominant Summers and the brutal cold of the Land of Iron even in the middle of Winter, where the blizzards are at their peak in the land, all while pushing himself to his physical limits, which seems to be at an extreme level, as very few things have been able to slow him down. Heightened Combat Response Because of increased activity in the parts of the brain that respond and react to stress, Castitas has a heightened response in combat. Because his brain has been more "wired" to feed into the fight portion of the fight-or-flight instinct, he can react to threats in a manner only the elite of fighters are capable of. The amygdala, which helps play a role in emotions, begins to suppress feelings of fear or anxiety upon the detection of a threat. In turn, the hypothalamus begins the processing and release of various hormones that aid in strength and speed to help protect his body from the threat he has to fight off. Afterwards, the hippocampus begins to suppress certain stress responses such as anxiety and fear. The prefrontal cortex begins to activate, giving Castitas increased attentive awareness and allows him to take advantage of planning in the midst of combat. Finally, the adrenal gland begins to work in producing epineprhine, or adrenaline, into the body to allow him to keep fighting until his body's stress levels return to normal levels via homeostasis. This in tandem with the first gate opened from the Eight Gates technique allows Castitas to overpower most of his opponents, but also leaves his body more susceptible to injury as the two are competing against each other in providing energy to the body. Ninjutsu Defense Because Castitas does not rely on offensive ninjutsu in combat, he has learned how to defend against it enough for him to close the distance to his opponent. His body's resilience to physical stress allows him to take most basic techniques with little to no damage done to his body But to protect from stronger ninjutsu attacks, Castitas steels his body with an influx of chakra, which serves as a protective barrier that reacts to the technique's element and mirrors it, allowing further protection against the attack. By utilizing physical energy dominant chakra, Castitas can deflect the attack, as if pushing away the blow of a sword by thrusting a shield forward, with the amount of energy required being determined by the intensity of the attack. All in all, he is well protected against most forms of ninjutsu, but is still open to more powerful forms that his chakra can't respond to. Trivia The name Castitas was chosen after the seven heavenly virtues. It's Latin for Chastity. The Latin translation was chosen for its similarity to Supernatural character Castiel.